Mad Max

First Look At Max In Action

Warner Bros. Interactive and Avalanche surprised us at E3 with their reveal of Mad Max, and now we've got the first gameplay trailer. In addition to a licensed NES title, the Mel Gibson films have been linked to video game culture many times. Examples include the bandits from Borderlands and elements of Rage's vehicular combat.

Now, things are coming full circle, with the Road Warrior starring in his own title once more. Combat takes place behind the wheel of the Pursuit Special and on foot, with what appears to be a combination of melee and firearms. When Matt Helgeson previewed the title at E3, he noted that emphasis is strongly on fisticuffs, which is a departure for open world titles.

Avalanche Studio's sandbox pedigree earned from the Just Cause series is enough to have us interested in what Mad Max's wasteland will have to offer. It doesn't hurt that the song chosen for this trailer, Soul of a Man is a masterful rendition of Blind Willie Johnson's classic from the 1930s.

Update: Reader Andrew Webster has identified the cover artist as Steven Stern. His version of Soul of a Man is available on iTunes and Amazon.

It looks like the game is sparsely textured and while the cinematic intro had some good cuts and music I think they need to up the polygon count a bit. I'm also very very disappointed they did not use Mel Gibsons likeness as he is Mad Max.

Avalanche is a very talented developer. Just Cause 2 is the most fun open world game I've ever played (not the best - just the most fun). I'm confident they can pull this off. The tone seems right and the gameplay looks like it will be a blast.

Ok, I understand that Mel Gibson may not be the most popular actor out there, but there was a time when he kicked ass. Mad Max was Mad Max, the only Mad Max. They need to use his likeness. Mad Max was the role that started Mel Gibson's career.

I certainly hope that Avalanche does a better "cross generation" game this time. I remember the fact that Just Cause 1 had a "cross generation" release on PS2 and Xbox 360... and the PS2 version was garbage. So I'm really hoping that Mad Max here isn't affected by the awkward timing (right during the console transition), and that the next gen versions aren't handicapped in any way by having to rely on a "current gen" base. Nor do I want the current gen versions to suck because they can't handle the stuff going on in the "real" versions.

It's all promising beyond that though. Warner Bros. is really, REALLY good with their adaptations. The Batman: Arkham series has showed that they're smart enough to divorce these games from the stories of their film counterparts, and let the universes breathe in a different medium properly. They already said that this game is completely unrelated to next year's Mad Max 4: Fury Road, so that's a great sign. Not to mention, the contracting of Just Cause 2's dev is inspired to say the least. Finally, they went and made all the Aussie gamers happy by announcing they were getting rid of the American voice actor for Max - not like I cared, but for people who DO, it's smart not to piss them off. All the stars are aligning for this thing; I'm just worried about the technical/engineering aspect.

The game is looking great though. It's amazing how, say, when you looked at RAGE* you saw a generic post-apocalypse that evoked every other post-apocalypse in gaming. But when Mad Max does it, it looks fresh and even pretty in some places. And the car combat and action looks really visceral and exciting. This should be fun. *crossing fingers*

* - not that RAGE came out to be a bad game. It just LOOKED like a boring one in every preview. Turned out to be quite awesome in the end.